|
Following a difficult
start to the 2007 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)
season at Brands Hatch at the beginning of this month
Irishman Eoin Murray headed to Rockingham last weekend
with high hopes for the second date on the calendar with
comprised of rounds four five and six of the series.
Murray, who has struggled with a lack of spare parts for
his Alfa Romeo 156 S2000 specification car was however
confident that the spares issue had been fully resolved
and he is looking forward to competing in every round of
the BTCC this year.
Having been forced to miss the official test day at
Rockingham earlier this season Eoin and his team Quest
would have to work even harder to get on the pace at the
weekend. The difficulty in Rockingham is the very long
fast straight and the highly technical ‘in-field’
section where gear ratio selection would be a critical
for the Alfa 156. Eoin, and Team Quest were confident
though of dealing effectively with the challenge.
Speaking in advance of his trip to Rockingham Eoin, the
Arguscarhire.com sponsored driver, said ‘’I can learn
tracks very quickly and both myself and the team have a
very good understanding and are working closer and
closer all the time I am confident in their ability to
give me the best possible car for the weekend."
However there were to be mixed
fortunes for Murray at Rockingham during the three
rounds that made up the BTCC's second meeting of the
year. It started very well as he qualified his Alfa 156
in a very strong fifth position on the grid, facing a
very a competitive 26 car field. This also signalled the
highest qualifying position for an Alfa Romeo in the
BTCC in recent years.
|
 |
|
Starting as top Independent class
runner behind the factory Seat and Vauxhall cars Murray
had a difficult first corner in race one with a little
contact from one of the BMW’s which damaged his
steering. |
|
|
 |
|
There
were mixed fortunes for Murray at Rockingham during the three
rounds that made up the BTCC's second meeting of the
year. |
|
Starting as top Independent class
runner behind the factory Seat and Vauxhall cars Murray
had a difficult first corner in race one with a little contact from
one of the BMW’s which damaged his steering. This
dropped him to ninth position, but despite the handling
problems he managed to maintain his position to the
finish, and he expressed himself well pleased with a top
ten finish despite the problems.
Races two and three proved fraught
with difficulty. A huge crash on the first lap of race
two eliminated six cars from the field - including
Murray - and that meant that he had to start the final
race from fifteenth place. A solid start over the first
half of the race saw him pick up five positions to move
up to ninth place. After a safety car period on lap nine
the field closed up but on the restart he was hit hard
from behind by Mike Jordon which broke the rear
suspension on the Alfa and ended his race.
Afterwards the young Dublin driver
commented “I was delighted with the performance of the
car during qualifying and the team did a great job this
weekend. However we will be working hard on the car
before Thruxton to try and improve the car over a full
race distance. Thruxton is one of my favourite tracks in
Europe and my car should work well there so I can’t
wait.” Next races of the 2007 British Touring Car
Championship will be rounds 7, 8 & 9 at Thruxton on
Sunday 6th of May.
|
|
|
|
